1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container filling unit comprising an insulator, especially for a production installation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous container production installations are known, in particular for bottles, such as the installation described in the document EP-B1-1,012,047.
Such a manufacturing installation generally comprises various units between which are arranged transfer means so as to be able to carry out the operations of the manufacturing process in succession from the formation of the container through to obtaining a filled and plugged container forming a finished product.
In an installation manufacturing bottles made of plastic material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the first step, upstream, is to transform bottle preforms in a blowing unit, the forming being done by the blowing or the stretching/blowing in a mold of a preform previously heated in an oven.
Generally, the blowing unit is incorporated in the manufacturing installation so as to obtain a compact, single-piece installation, able to carry out all of the manufacturing process from the start through to obtaining finished products ready for marketing. As a variant, the unit is still arranged upstream so that the bottles produced can then directly feed the input of an installation combining all the units that follow it according to the manufacturing process.
The installation represented in FIG. 1 of this document mainly comprises, in addition to the abovementioned blowing unit, a cleaning unit in which a disinfecting or sterilizing treatment is carried out in order to decontaminate the interior and/or the exterior of the bottle, a filling unit and a plugging unit.
The manufacturing installation represented in FIG. 1 of the document EP-B1-1,012,047 comprises a sterile body delimiting a volume inside which are arranged the various units so that the manufacturing process is performed in an aseptic or sterile environment suitable for limiting the risks of contamination of the bottles produced.
In the manufacturing process, the container filling operation is usually recognized as the most sensitive operation with regard to the risks of contamination, in particular of airborne particle contaminations by germs, bacteria, etc., likely to contaminate notably the internal volume of the container.
This is why, in addition to the sterilizing or disinfecting treatments directly targeting the liquid and the container, in particular its internal wall, other means are generally implemented to reduce the risks of contamination, most particularly during filling.
In addition to the presence of a general body intended to isolate, from the surrounding atmosphere, an internal space inside which are arranged the manufacturing units of the installation, it is known to equip the filling unit with an insulator.
By definition, an insulator is a body that makes it possible to carry out operations with no risk of contamination.
FIG. 1 shows an example of such an insulator of a filling unit according to the state of the art known to the applicant, but which does not, however, give full satisfaction.
In practice, it has been observed for such a filling unit equipped with an insulator, that there notably remains a risk of contamination by particles that might be present on the external surface of the container and that might be likely to be detached by the turbulent air flow that is insufflated into the body of the insulator to create an overpressure therein.